Steven Sauerberg on Health Care

Republican Challenger

Vouchers to make health care portable and less job-dependent

Durbin & Sauerberg clashed over the nation's health-care crisis, with Durbin accusing Sauerberg, a physician, of proposing an end to government-backed insurance for the poor and elderly in favor of a program using tax credits to purchase private
insurance.

"I don't know of another doctor who is so bold as to believe that those people who count on these programs are somehow going to be protected in the market by themselves," said
Durbin, who favors a large-scale expansion of taxpayer-subsidized health-care coverage.

But Sauerberg said Durbin misunderstood his proposal, which he said would expand the availability of health-care coverage and make it
portable and less job-dependent. "You can buy it. You can use vouchers. The government already pays for many, many people's insurance," Sauerberg said.

Portability, competition, and accessibility for health care

Individuals and families must be allowed to purchase the health coverage of their choice in any state and that coverage must be portable. To lower costs and improve healthcare quality, a free-market based system should be implemented to allow insurance
companies to compete locally, statewide, by region and nationally. By lowering costs and creating individual ownership, the Your Healthcare--Your Choice Plan will enable all Americans to receive affordable, high quality healthcare.

Individual ownership through tax rebates and health vouchers

The Your Healthcare--Your Choice Plan will provide an individual with a $2,000 tax rebate and families with a $5,000 tax rebate for purchasing health insurance.
Health vouchers in the same amount will be given to those who don't pay federal income tax.